#maybe it's like sadness and nostalgia? for something that is entirely new to me (the reader) and yet it doesn't feel foreign at all

[allonepiece]

there's something about finally seeing roger and his crew in the past that really wounds me

[annymaght]

I've seen different opinions on yaz and her new design (I'm sure I'll love it cuz this is yaz we're talking about let's be real) but here are some thoughts just from the trailer.

Her hair is much darker than it was it's almost black, or maybe it just looks like that because majority of the trailer is set at night time idk

I agree with the people saying she looks like marinette 😭 I think it's the bun lol and yes I am a little sad that they got rid of the iconic ponytail but it's fine

The fringe doesn't bother me at all I think it looks nice

Her outfit is really coll and she's wearing a crop top???? that's so jjvjbkbvj

Honestly I think majority of people were thrown off by her adult design because she looks more asian now, like a girl you'd look at and say yeah that's a yasmina

Finally I just hope she's still into running because that was her entire thing in cc but that's probably nostalgia talking

Me personally I found everyone looking a little weird but that's because 1) they're not pre teens anymore and 2) they're not dirty with ripped clothes

OMG I was exactly like that for ur point two. I saw them in the trailer and my first thought was that they look too clean lol.

But yeh, I mean characters that you have grown to love looking a little different can be odd sometimes but I'm sure they will grow on us soon.

And tbh when I first saw Yazs design I thought she looked amazing and I especially loved the fringe. I hope she continues being a gym nut but we'll see. She might have found a new sport besides running (like rowing or something idk).

Like you with Yaz, I think Kenji looks a little odd especially when looking back at his younger self, but tbh I'm just glad their back and I know we will all get past that phase the designs will grow on us.

[differenteagletragedy]

baxter finding out the mc he dated owns n runs an ice cream truck now 🥺

Oooof, this one got me lol, thank you!

If there was one thing that Baxter kept to himself -- he kept most everything to himself, but this he held especially close to the vest -- it was his penchant for nostalgia.

It was odd, and he couldn't entirely explain it, but he found joy sometimes in going back to places and things that he'd once loved, in experiencing something that had once meant a great deal to him over and over. If not joy, then a certain sort of comfort.

It showed him that he'd once shared something with other people. That he'd once been happy. That it was possible.

That's why, when he was feeling his most melancholy, he found himself out in the suburbs, on the hunt for the ice cream truck.

There was a whole ritual to it. He had to track it down, then stop it, then look at the old beaten up sign -- the signs on ice cream trucks were always beaten up, he'd noticed -- and pick which treat he'd like to have. All the while, even though he was always alone, thinking back to that one summer five years ago when he'd had friends.

When he'd had you.

One evening he got the urge to treat himself to this particular bit of nostalgia, but when he went down all the normal streets, he couldn't find the truck. He circled back a few times, rolled down his windows to listen for the tell-tale music, but there was nothing.

He almost called it a night when he saw it: a truck. But a new one. Not only new to him, but actually new. The white paint was crisp and fresh, and from what he could see, the sign was pristine.

He parked, then started walking.

The truck slowed, then stopped, and he jogged to close the distance. He moved to the side, ready for the familiar transaction, then stopped.

Because there, high up in the truck, looking down at him with the same amount of surprise, was you.

You looked at each other in silence for what felt like a long time, neither sure what to say or do. Baxter was weighing his options, considering if leaving or staying would hurt less, when you made the first move.

"I don't have any creepy little girl popsicles, but I can probably find something you like," you said with a smile.

He laughed, genuinely, for the first time in a long time. Still smiling, you tuned around to go to your freezer.

"Do you want the usual, or are you over the black and white thing entirely?"

"Not entirely, no," he said, smoothing out the jacket of his maroon suit. "The usual would be wonderful, thank you."

You turned back to him with an ice cream sandwich, moving to grab a fistful of napkins before he could ask. In turn, he moved to hand you a few dollars, but you waved it away.

"My treat," you told him.

"No, I do believe it is mine."

He'd made you so sad when he left like he did after your summer together -- you'd known he was leaving, you were fine that he didn't want a long distance relationship, that wasn't what hurt. What hurt was that he hadn't thought he was worth the trouble of keeping in contact with. That he thought some phone calls or texts, maybe a visit if you ever found yourself in the same area, was too much trouble.

But there he was, not the same monochromatic boy you'd known back then, but it was still him. So instead of bringing up the past, you decided to see if you could start something new. If nothing else, then at least just a nice encounter at an ice cream truck.

Baxter tried for a bit with the money, moving his hand around the window of your truck, but you kept swatting him away. Soon you were both laughing, and he boldly grabbed your wrist with his free hand and slid the money into your palm. He leaned back, smirking like he'd won, then you leaned forward and tucked the bills in the front pocket of his jacket.

It was still easy, being with him.

He finally gave up, at least for the moment, in trying to pay you for the ice cream. He took it from you, along with the napkins, carefully unwrapped it and then took a bite. He stayed put.

There were a million questions you could have asked each other, but he went first.

"So, an ice cream truck?"

You leaned over the counter on your elbows and told him all about it -- about how you'd spent a few years working with a company that paid well enough, but you weren't happy, so you decided to go into business for yourself. You'd done research on your options, trying to figure out what would be the best fit, and Cove, probably hungry at the time, had mentioned that a lot of people were opening food trucks. From there, "ice cream truck" was a pretty easy leap.

"I don't know if I want to do it forever," you admitted, "but it's fun for now."

"I see," he said. He'd finished his treat and carefully folded up the wrapper, then folded that inside a napkin. Before he could ask, you leaned down and took the little bundle from him so you could throw it away.

"Fun for now can be nice," he said with another smirk.

A lot had changed in five years. Both of you had grown, had new experiences, you were both in vastly different places in your lives than you had been back then. But one thing that hadn't changed, you could tell then, was that Baxter was a shameless flirt when he wanted to be.

"It can," you agreed, trying out a smirk of your own.

[meowcats734]

(prompt response) A tiny dragon and a crow fight over a gold coin. They’re both equally strong, and both can fly. The crow is smart enough to dodge the fire, and the dragon is trying not to melt the coin. They tussle on the street.

We were set for shelter thanks to the Redlands' forgiving climate, and Mairel's ghost combined with my foraging skills meant we were good for food and water. I wasn't exactly sure what the limitations of the ghost were, but Sansen assured me that the soulspace entity from the Plane of Nostalgia was limited in what it could do—mostly, bringing memories from its past to life, spending them one by one.

I felt a little sad taking advantage of the ghost of Sansen's old crush like that, but it was clear from experimentation that the clump of soul fragments that made up Mairel's ghost wasn't sentient, and was perfectly happy to help us in any way it could. If we could have a slightly higher chance of not dying before we found Jiaola and got the hell away from this nightmare war, I'd gladly sacrifice a hundred ghosts and memories to save one living person. 

"So how come it's not sentient, but people like Odin and I am?" Meloai asked. I had no idea how her clockwork body repaired itself, but she seemed to have recovered from her flight through the Plane of Elemental Cold, because she could walk longer than any of us—and for the entire day, too. She offered to shapeshift into a horse and give us all a ride, but... something about that just felt sleazy, and it was pretty clear that she had no idea how to control a horse's body anyway, so we all walked for now until we could think up a faster method of transport.

"I think it has something to do with the number of memories that happened to agglutinate at that point in soulspace," Sansen said. "Or maybe the diversity of memories? I could tell that Mairel's ghost was... well, Mairel's. There weren't any elements from other people's minds, as far as I can tell."

"Hey, yeah. And that creepy little mimic I, er, threw into the void way back when—the only soul fragment that came out of that was my mother's. And it sure as hell wasn't sentient."

"That reminds me—what were you doing in the Plane of Elemental Falsehood in the first place?" Lucet asked, tilting her head towards me.

"Odin was fucking with me," I said. It was the safe response. Liquid metal flushed through my soul, but I ignored it. "So, wait, Meloai, when we're feeding you the soul fragments from the animals we hunt, is that making you... smarter, or something?"

Meloai giggled awkwardly. "Sort of? But not in the way you think! I have to, uh, consume a certain amount of memories per day. In theory, I could survive indefinitely by consuming my memories as quickly as I produced them—that's how most soulspace entities just sort of keep existing—but then I wouldn't get to form new memories with you guys, having a good time and learning about the world. So... I consume other things' memories, instead." She paused, frowning. "It's not very efficient, though. I need to eat the right... kind... of memories. Ones charged with insecurity."

"Huh." Lucet turned to Sansen. "Hey, speaking of which, do you have any idea where memories that get eaten by soulspace entities... go? Our old teacher sort of stonewalled us on the topic."

Sansen shrugged. "Too theoretical for my tastes. Wouldn't they just get destroyed?"

"Soul fragments can't get destroyed, only transformed," Meloai said. 

"According to the Academy," I added.

"Okay, yeah, but if there's one place where we'd expect a little less propaganda, it'd be the realm of science, no? It's an empirically observed fact, and we ran some experiments to confirm it."

"Yes, true, cool—counterpoint: the Academy harvested our fucking emotions to power their war machine. I'm not trusting anything that came out of that 'education' that I can't verify with my own two hands."

"Hey, uh, guys?" Lucet said. "I hate to interrupt, but... are you three seeing this?"

Sansen muttered something about poor old eyes, but Meloai and I stopped in our banter, turning to face the end of the dirt road we'd been following for the past week.

The village was utterly and clearly ruined, even from this distance. The sky was scribbled over with slashes of darkness, and there wasn't a building taller than an outhouse left standing. 

"What is it?" Sansen asked, squinting at the horizon.

Nobody wanted to say "probably a massacre," but I was a Redlander. I was used to it. "Probably a massacre," I said, and my voice was surprisingly calm. It was only the third village I'd seen this way, but it already felt... familiar. Like slipping into an old torture rack, made comfortable from years of use. "It's a standard Redlands tactic. There's some valuable piece of land that everyone wants—a particularly fertile field, a really good aquifer, whatever—but nobody's able to hold it for long. So someone who knows they can't have it decides nobody else can, either, and tears open rifts until the place is uninhabitable. Then they move on to go fight over some other piece of land and forget about it until a year or two have passed and the rifts have mostly closed over. And the next batch of villagers settle in, name the place after the rifts that killed the last group of poor bastards to live there, and hope they have a decade or so before the cycle repeats itself all over again."

"Fuck," Lucet murmured. "I'm sorry, Cienne."

I shook my head. "It's... it's just the way things are. Come on. These rifts don't look as bad as they could be—let's check for survivors."

"What kind of rifts are we walking into?" Sansen absently asked.

"Darkness," I said. "If we encounter a shadow, we should probably just run. Demons of Fear can be fucking terrifying, and I don't... there's nothing here to be happy about. I can't use joy right now."

"Let me see," Sansen said, and two lenses of possibility swirled into existence around his eyes. He shook his head. "Very unlikely for there to be demons in the near future. Best bet is that the forces that clashed here—and let's be real, this was the Silent Peaks against the Order of Valhalla—already dealt with them, one way or another."

"Then let's get going."

Grimly, the four of us marched towards the ruined village, three of us keeping a lookout in space, one of us keeping a lookout in time. Nobody detected any threats, but I was still jumpy for the entire journey.

Meloai and Lucet seemed like they had a pretty good coverage of realspace, so I closed my eyes and looked into soulspace. The cluster of memories that made up Meloai was beginning to grow into visibility, although it was still small in comparison to the souls of the three humans in the party. Aside from us, though, there weren't many lifeforms in the village, and those that were seemed to mostly be dumb animals. I could tell from the emotions—mostly monotone, tiny drops of joy or crystals of sorrow...

...except, wait, I'd nearly overlooked it, since its soul was so small, but there was a more complex soul. It had the simple emotions like sorrow and fear, yes, but there were glass shards of shame and sticky black thorns of self-hatred, and those were emotions I uniquely associated with what it meant to be human.

"Hold on," I said, eyes still closed. "I think I found something. A sapient soul, this way." I pointed towards where the soul would have corresponded to in realspace. Nobody questioned me—with my nine attunements, I had by far the broadest range of emotions I could see with my soulsight, and even though it didn't make me a master witch by any means, it gave me an edge in situations like this.

Even as the four of us inched closer to the broken rubble that I'd sensed the soul in, in my soulsight I felt the soul breaking apart. Fuck, the only person who could tell us what had happened here was already dying. "Quickly," I said, kneeling down to excavate the rubble.

Meloai pushed me aside without even thinking and hefted, clockwork tick-tick-ticking as strength a dozen times more than I could possibly output lifted a massive wooden beam off the ground.

At what she saw beneath, Meloai froze—not in the living, breathing way a human might, but in the perfect form of a statue that reminded me of her home in endless halls of oil and clockwork.

The girl who'd been crushed beneath the falling beam was undeniably dead. Nobody could survive watering the grass like that.

But the soul I had sensed stirred, and I knelt down, lifting up the girl's hand to reveal... a crow. Jet-black, beautiful, bloodied, and broken. But still alive, for now.

"Can you—" Lucet began.

"I never attuned forgiveness," I said, and it was disgusting how level my voice was. "It's not an emotion for me."

"Fuck," Lucet whispered. "And there aren't any other sapient souls in the village?"

"Not that I can sense," I said. Calm, sorrow, passion, insecurity, joy, fear, spite, guilt, self-hatred—even with the nine fields of magic I could now touch, I couldn't even save a fucking crow.

Well. At the very least, my oldest attunement was in perfect working order.

The crow shifted in my hands, letting out a faint wheeze. For a moment, I could have sworn it was trying to tell me something.

And then, in a flash of insight, I realized that it still could.

"You two. Choose an emotion," I said, "and I'll open up a rift. Meloai, you just do what you do."

Lucet blinked, uncomprehending, but Meloai got it immediately. "What?" Lucet asked.

"We've got exactly one witness to what happened here," I explained, "and their memories are about to be scattered throughout thoughtspace. Maybe if we're lucky, we can catch them as they go."

"Worth a shot," Sansen said. "I'll take care of my own rift, thank you."

"I'm... comfortable with the Plane of Sorrow," Lucet said. "You just focus on yourself."

I nodded, oil welling up from my soul as I let my passion swell. The dying crow almost seemed to nod at me as three witches and one demon prepared to dive into the crow's memories.

Then the crow's soul shattered, and I slashed my way between realities to try and catch a shard before it was lost forever.

And I was no longer Cienne, the helpless little boy who was still hopelessly in over his head.

I was the crow. I liked shiny things and eating clams. I disliked fire and pointy knives. I was the crow. I was the crow—

###

Astrenn needed the Shiny. Even though my feathers were singed, even when the Angry Thing swiped at me with its claws, Astrenn needed the Shiny. And so I would get the Shiny. It didn't matter how long it took, it didn't matter how distracting the village was (ooh! Is that tinsel? I love tinsel. No. No, focus. Astrenn needed the Shiny.) The Angry Thing was dumb, and even though it was strong and magical, I was clever-clever, fast-fast. I would win eventually.

The first thing to do was to get to a friendly nest. Right now, we were near the nest of the Large Baker—who used the Angry Things for cook-fires and shooed away me from the Delicious Breads. If the Large Baker came out on the street to investigate, Astrenn would never get the Shiny. So I flew to a nearby bin of Smelly Rotten Mush and tipped it over with a wingflap.

I knew this much about the Angry Things: they had a powerful sense of smell. And so as soon as the Smelly Rotten Mush poured out onto the street (to the dismay of the Large Baker), the Angry Thing awkwardly flapped away, the Shiny in its claws. I grabbed a small pebble (and a tinsel, for later), and shot into the sky, my feather-silent wings swift where the clunky, impossible weight of the Angry Thing farted along on inelegant wind magic.

"Caw," I said, and released the stone.

The Angry Thing must have been stupid, because it didn't even try to dodge the stone that thunked on its head. Unfortunately, the Angry Thing was a big ball of scales (shiny? No, not Shiny. Focus. Astrenn needed the Shiny) and probably wasn't even hurt by the rock. Which was no fair. Even the hard-hard-hard clams from the market got split open by a high-heavy-dropped rock. But at the very least, the Angry Thing dropped the Shiny, letting it twinkle to the ground like a wish upon a star.

Astrenn would get the Shiny. Astrenn had to get the Shiny.

I dove down, folding my wings tight and close to my body like how I'd seen the swooping-fast-kill-above birds do, and snatched the Shiny out of the air. The Angry Thing dove after me, but it had fallen into my trap.

For these fields of amber grain were the nests of the Old Farmer, and they appreciated me for my ability to hunt-find-eat mice more than the Angry Things that set their barns and crops on fire.

The Angry Thing dove after me, heat lighting up in its maw as I settled on the ground, and I knew the Angry Thing thought it had victory in its stupid little claws.

But then, like a thunderbolt, a broom head slapped the Angry Thing out of the sky as the Old Farmer scolded it.

"Back, you silly little dragon! I won't have you burning the barn down today!" The Old Farmer had skin like wrinkle-walnuts, and he was unamused by the Angry Thing's presence in his nest. Another two broom slaps swept the defeated Angry Thing away, and the Old Farmer gave me a piercing look.

"Say... you're my daughter's friend, aren't you?" The Old Farmer chuckled to himself. "You clever little thing. Well, go on. She's waiting for you where we buried... oh, why am I bothering? You can't understand me; you're just a crow. Astrenn! Your crow's here to visit!"

I flapped towards the barn, where Astrenn was waiting. The little girl who'd once taken me in, feeding me, and keeping me warm when the nights grew cold. Astrenn had saved my life when she was a hatchling, and I would do anything for Astrenn in return.

Astrenn needed the Shiny. And finally, I had delivered.

Astrenn looked up from the small lump of freshly-turned earth, the small, carved rock that stood where a mother should have been. Her cheeks glistened with sparkling droplets of water, but for once, I only wanted to wipe these shinies away.

"There you are, you silly lump of feathers." Astrenn sniffled and held out her arm; I hopped on and nuzzled her cheek. "What've you got for me today?"

I said, "Caw," and relinquished my treasures. A single gold coin for Astrenn, and a bit of tinsel for me.

Astrenn giggled. "You crazy crow—where'd you get this? Mother would have fed you plump for days. Come on—we can still send her off, if we hurry."

Astrenn pocketed the Shiny and hurried into the market, exchanging the Shiny for some smaller sparkles and a bouquet of fresh flowers.

Then Astrenn and I returned to Astrenn's mother's grave, placing the flowers in the center. After a moment of thought, I delicately balanced my tinsel on top, and Astrenn closed her eyes that shone like stars.

"She would have loved you, you pretty little girl."

"Caw," I said, perhaps agreeing, perhaps simply being there for my friend.

And Astrenn and I knelt there in mourning, until the sun bled red and the greatest shinies of all twinkled in the night sky above.

###

Time flickered, stepped, and jumped, and I was back in my body. Back in realspace. Back in the ruined, darksky village.

Back by the corpse of a girl named Astrenn who loved to feed crows.

"It was them," Lucet whispered by my side. "The Order and the Peaks. They fought here."

"Yeah." The words came out of my mouth. "I get that."

My friends gave me odd looks, but I couldn't hear what they said next over the sudden rush of my heartbeat in my ears. Worried, Lucet stood to put a hand on my shoulder, but as if I was in a dream, I walked forwards and my friends fell away.

"You guys keep looking," I managed to say. "I'll be right back."

"Cienne, where are you—" Lucet started to say, before someone cut her off. Probably Sansen. I loved Meloai, but... it would be Sansen who stopped her. 

I stepped into the middle of a blackened, ruined field. Now that I knew what to look for, it was obvious that this was where the Peaks had called down one of their devastating strikes of pure light. The crops here had been burnt to ash, but that was okay. The bodies, the blood, the ruins—they would just make more fertile soil, more desirable targets for the next time war came to this horrible, beautiful place that I called home.

This coming spring harvest we'll do it again

From the first bitter dawn to the pitiful end.

My heart thumped to the mournful tune of the Redlands Anthem, and I clenched my fists and my jaw and my soul and my everything, everything was dense and hot and furious—

So lift up a glass for the heroes who fell

And the bastards that got them, we'll see them in—

I let loose a wordless, bloody, guttural shriek, and a torrent of fury and sorrow and self-hatred screamed out with it, heat that warped the air as much as my tears, frost that numbed my flesh as deep as my soul, and I was falling, shrinking, fading into nothingness as the storm of ice and fire that was my love and loss reached so high it nearly split the sky in two.

When it was over, I was curled up in a patch of melting frost, surrounded by ruined, incinerated earth. My soul was empty. I was empty. I was so, so weak, and if a gust of wind so much as touched me, I would blow away into dust.

From behind me, I heard the frost crunch as someone stepped up to me, waited, then laid down by my side. Reaching out to loop one arm around my chest, holding me tight and close. 

I closed my eyes and let Lucet hold me, the anthem of the Redlands echoing in my ears as my soul went quiet and still, falling asleep in a cradle of frost and flame.

A.N.

Soulmage is a serial written in response to writing prompts. Stick around for more episodes, or join my Discord to chat about it!

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[kafus]

okay well i guess i didn’t need my alarms cause i can’t seem to sleep more lmao. it’s 5 am

soooo pokemon presents in a little less than 4 hrs huh? realistically i’m expecting something either johto or unova related and since they’re apparently lighting up NYC today, which is not usual for pokemon day, i’m kind of leaning unova. i have mixed feelings about this since as much as i actually did enjoy my time with BDSP, i was dually disappointed by them and i’m still sad that sinnoh isn’t going to get the HGSS or ORAS treatment ever - if unova remakes were to be of a similar caliber of bdsp, i’d rather them just not exist at all frankly. nostalgia bias and my immense love for sinnoh aside, i think the unova games, especially bw2, are some of the best games in the entire franchise, and if they are remade, or get bw3 sequels, or whatever, i want them to be GOOD. lets not spit on the legacy of gen 5 now!! but. i remain cautiously optimistic. i’m not a super cynical pokemon fan and like i said i did enjoy bdsp despite everything. also a legends kyurem or whatever would be awesome btw i wanna see the og dragon lol. johto would also be cool but i’m having a lot less thoughts on it for some reason. i’m sure if they announce anything johto ayano will have incredibly passionate thoughts about it

now i’m not really one for predictions, the above talk is maybe the most obvious outcome since they usually do remakes mid-gen. instead i’ll just talk about some things i would WANT even if they’re a pipe dream and i don’t necessarily expect them:

a new PMD. not an explorers remake, a new PMD with a fresh story and everything. we haven’t had a proper new PMD story since 2015 and i MISS IT. i’d also enjoy explorers remakes but frankly i want a new game the most and i wanna play as sprigatito SOBS THE PALDEA STARTERS WOULD BE SO GOOD FOR PMD

gen 3 on NSO with full online capabilities and also connectivity to NSO ports of colosseum and gale of darkness. i 100% do not think this is happening but it would blow me away if it did. the amount of gen 3 that so many people were never able to experience as children, especially me… could finally be done online!!! it’d be cool if they removed all the dumb trading restrictions too but unlikely. (as an aside if they released gen 1/2 VC again with stadium compatibility that’d be epic but i somehow expect that even less)

some sort of new stadium-type game with home compatibility that provides single player trials similar to that of the old gen battle frontiers. i just REALLY really miss old singleplayer battle challenges. i want a new one to spend a bazillion years on making wacky teams and winning w them. i enjoy VGC but sometimes that singleplayer experience hits different

i really am a spinoff enjoyer. surprise me with something new! that isn’t a mobile game with gacha elements! just a whole new standalone pokemon idea. no idea what genre just excite me

MAKE A COMFY FRIENDS SPRIGATITO PLUSH OR SO HELP ME GOD (this is barely related to the presents im just thinking about it i want one soo bad 😭)

and those r all my thoughts i think. these presentations r always a treat because i wake up early and watch them with my friends. i probably won’t be liveposting it on tumblr bc i will be lost in the sauce of discord w the besties. i’ll provide my thoughts later though!

[ghetsis]

still Angy about Magnifico...

you know what my biggest issue was with him? no character continuity. like, he's presented as a benevolent king who's beloved by all, including his wife (who should have known better than anyone if he was a dick). then Asha gets there, we get the lamest, most generic "tragic backstory" (everything I love destroyed by, uh... *throws dart at board* greed.) and then he turns into a narcissistic douchebag because... Asha asked some questions??? then Star shows up and he's threatened because "HURRGRRR SOMEONE WHO'S NOT ME HAS MAGIC!!" so he resorts to forbidden, black magic because Reasons and that drives him more insane than he evidently already was.

There Is Not Enough To Thread Together This Plotline.

his transition from good to bad was too overt and abrupt to make him a good twist villain and not presenting him as malevolent to begin with prevents him from working as a True Evil villain either. so he falls into the chasm of "I'm bad because the story needs a villain and that's it." and the saddest part? this is not that hard to fix.

let's start with his backstory: instead of Generic Bad Thing Happened, let's give him something more relevant. maybe his father wished upon a star and his grand dream came true. but he flew too close to the sun, things got out of hand and everyone died. tragic. and so now, Magnifico has vowed to build a new kingdom where he can regulate everyone's wishes to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. boom! how hard was that? we now have a logical motive for why he does what he does. he is motivated by fear of losing everything again.

and this would make his conflict with Asha make more sense. he's not upset because she dared to question his Amazingness, but because she struck at a primal fear of his. maybe she hit some nagging insecurity that he was doing something wrong even though he's been justifying this to himself for years. none of this defies his initial setup as a benevolent king. he means well, but his entire domestic policy is a trauma response.

and that whole part where he drags Asha on stage just so she can have a front row seat as he grants a wish to someone other than her grandpa? unnecessary. it served no purpose other than to show that he was Mean. it would have been better if he just denied her request, denied her apprenticeship and maybe looked a little sad about it at the wish ceremony.

now when Asha makes her wish and Star arrives, he has more of a reason to freak out because this is literally what killed his entire family in his mind. so he becomes consumed by paranoia and resorts to black magic to "save" his kingdom. which would tie nicely "protect you at all costs" motif established in the earlier song. from this point, he descends into madness because evil sorcery only makes his issues worse and he moves to not only control everyone's wishes, but to control everyone period because they can't be trusted. this gives us some nice dramatic irony as his "wish" to protect everyone is now the biggest threat to his kingdom just like his father before him.

so blah blah blah, hero/villain showdown happens. things look bleak. the people sing "when you wish upon a star" for the Nostalgia Factor instead of this "you're a star"... thing. Magnifico is imprisoned and instead of just reveling in her love's demise, the queen resigns from power and vows to take him somewhere where he can't hurt anyone and maybe find a way to help him. because thanks to ✨Character Continuity✨, he's not just a pointless d-bag, but a severely damaged person we can empathize with while still understanding the need for consequences.

as much as I love unabashedly evil villains, that just doesn't work well with the established premise and so a descent into villainy is probably a better option without entirely rewriting his character.

and I'm not bringing up his song. we already know it sounds like it was written by AI...

[femboty2k]

is it weird to feel like you're living in the corpse of the world you grew up in? I know nostalgia is a slow and insidious killer if left unchecked, but just, let me try and describe this. I was born in 1998, I grew up through the 2000s and 2010s, particularly in the tech/video game spaces (go figure) and it feels like everything I used to know is just, dead now. My life used to be filled with how wondrous and new technology could be. Things had weight and worked with all sorts of wires and metal parts. Even the cheap things still felt like they were a part of it. It really felt like you were a part of something special when your hobby was computers. But I don't know about now. I don't just want to be sad about it all the time. I know that in the right places those bustling tech avenues from a time when the web was a place and not a monolith, and computers were appliances and not our entire lives, I know those still exist. But theyre so tucked away. So hidden under mountains of consumerist trash full of bad plastic and bad user design and no user fixability and just, I don't know. All the hobby shops had to close, or raise their prices so high they might has well have. All the old video games are owned by youtubers and techies that rip the consoles apart to make ANOTHER backlit LED button gameboy advanced that they dont play. The world I knew so fondly has been hollowed out and is now worn by black suits and minimalistic white and grey squares with rounded edges. I just, get sad sometimes. I feel like I was too young to have truly been a part of it, but I might also be too old to try and get into it now. Or at least too poor. I miss it. I miss those off whites and beiges, compressed audtio 480p video please insert disc 2 "why did the developers spend so much time on the UI and menus". I miss it so much sometimes. Everything feels the same now. Maybe I'm just tired. Maybe I should get into linux or something. I don't know.

[vinntea]

The Genius Switch, Chapter One.

The air is thick with a sweet nostalgia. Or maybe bitter, both better yet. Osamu takes in the taste, exhaling it out as he steps over the wooden floor boards. His Rose red eyes look out the office window, gazing at the early morning's streets. His expression grows lost as his mind falls somewhere else.

A former Dazai appeared behind his eyes. A young, crime tattered boy with nothing in his blood red irises. A fading reflection in the very window he looks at presently. The little Osamu glanced at the glass only to follow the sound of a sorrowful man's voice in the other room. Dazai just barely managed to reach the knob of the door and open it, walking into a stuff conversation between a retired samurai- and an obvious murderer. Alarmingly normal for him to see such those days. The silver haired man's eyes widened at the little boy's appearance. Startled by the fact a boy no older than ten years old was here in the same building as an assassin- but also to see the state the child was in. He slowly walked up to Dazai, careful not to alarm him and spoke.

"What are you doing here, young man? Where are your parents?" His voice sounded... Conflicting. Inviting and caring yet with a hint of distance. He was panicked, clearly eager for him to leave. The older man glanced between the office worker and the closet nearby. Dazai knew there was danger there. Why else would the man be so scared? The threat wasn't who the man thought it was, though. That much was on ious to Dazai. His dull eyes stared into the older man's,observing him subconsciously. He was like a wolf. Big, scary, and capable. Yet also compassionate and protective. The wolf looked him over, concern growing. The finely dressed man turned to see Dazai, and felt worried as well, yet his compassion could not compare to the wolf's. "Young man, can you understand me?" Dazai nodded. The lack of an expression sent shivers down the wolf's spine. "Could you tell me why you're here?" Dazai didn't respond, and instead looked away and towards the man in a suit. He waddled to him, stepping over the papers on the floor. The fancy man scowled and raised his voice.

"HEY! GET OFF MY WORK!" Dazai stopped abruptly and stared at the pathetic man with an empty expression. No sign of fear or sadness. Nothing at all. The man's breath hitched in his dry throat as he slightly crawled away. Dazai continued walking towards him, and suddenly pulled on the man's sleeve. The young boy looked back at the wolf and pointed at the coward beside him.

"He pushed. I saw." Dazai's voice was dry, emotionless, and scratched. A heavy silence fell onto the wolf and the man as they looked at each other in shock.

The memory becomes blurry after that. Fukuzawa had the true murderer arrested, as well as the kid assassin, Sakunosuke Oda. He remembers following Fukuzawa to a theater, where something similar happened. The fox-like boy came back at some point- though Dazai doesn't remember exactly how or why. Then he recalls a police station, where officers asked him a lot of questions. That was until the head of their department came in and stopped the entire thing before they could get any decent information out of him. Osamu's clearest memories after that were of the wolf man- Fukuzawa, taking him back to his apartment and feeding him. The look on his face when he saw how much he ate made Osamu laugh to this day. His adoptive father however, didn't find any humor in it. He was given a bath, a temporary makeshift bed, and new clothes. Years went by without Osamu ever speaking a word, and yet he had helped solve countless mysteries with Fukuzawa. By then, he had already adopted him. Official documentation, recording the day the wolf man took in a hardly alive orphan boy. It by all means made his life harder in every way it could, but his adoptive father claimed it made him happier too. Over time, Osamu took better care of himself, learned how to maintain a healthier mind and body, made friends, and started speaking regularly. The once stone cold voids turned into rosey warm rays. Seemingly overnight, if you ask Fukuzawa. The Armed Detective Agency was born when Osanu turned fourteen. The two wanted to do what they've been doing, but legally. Not out of respect for the law, but because getting locked up is pretty inconvenient when you're trying to solve crime cases. Not long after the ADA was founded, Osamu convinced Oda to leave the Port Mafia and join him in the Agency. The very Agency he stood in now.

Osamu looks at his reflection I'm the window, seeing the sweater that covers his scars, the bangs that covers the one that faded, and the jacket his parents left behind. The many physical reminders of his past. The time in his life he hasn't said a word of. Not to Fukuzawa, not to Oda, not to anyone. He plans to keep it that way.

[kbirby]

People dislike the 2001 FB because it’s unfaithful to the original story.

I'm aware! But I think its an unjust reason.

I think that what makes a good adaptation or even a good story based on something is not directly tied to how faithful it is to the original.

It is about what that story does with its premise, how does it transform it?

Making something completely like the original does not make it immediately the best thing ever, and I would argue that Fruits Basket 2001 actually does a better job of conveying the original FEELING of Fruits Basket, even if it lacks in the story.

Fruits Basket 2001 was running when the manga wasn't finished which doomed it to split into a different narrative path, missing many things people loved about the manga's story and we never got a second season, missing out on the intricacies of the story of FB.

HOWEVER, what 2019 does horribly in comparison to 2001, that for me personally ruined my entire watching experience, was the atmosphere and feeling of the story. Specifically in the music.

While FB 2001 fails to ever tell the full story of FB, the story it does tell hits harder emotionally and the experience is more shocking than when I watched 2019. And I realized this was because of the music, 2019's music failed to stick with me in any positive way. It is so boring that I cannot remember a SINGLE tune of it, except for the one I hate the most that plays during ever serious or sad moment. The atmosphere for 2019 ends up being strangely, non comedic during many times there should be comedy. Mostly again due to the music, the atmosphere is starkingly dark and dramatic and I know that a lot of people most likely prefer this.

A lot of critique 2001 gets is that it is "too comedic", as if fruits basket isnt a ROMANTIC COMEDY SLICE OF LIFE. In fact the comedy INCREDIBLY aided in the serious moments of 2001; The music of 2001 gives us such beautiful melodies and themes, motifs of different characters and different feelings, sometimes even reoccurring in different instruments to have us feel a different way. Hiro's theme going from slightly slower to a faster paced when he starts hustling and fast talking people, flustering them. The main theme "Memory" being played in its full form or being played in lighter instruments giving us a feeling of nostalgia tinged with sadness. There is life and character in this OST, it is beautiful and largely carries 2001.

Now I understand why 2019 couldn't use the OG soundtrack, whether for copyright reasons or maybe they just wanted to go a different direction, but the new OST is boring. It is lifeless. It is REPETITIVE. The SAME exact track is played for almost ever serious moment, and in general fails to make me feel ANYTHING for the characters of 2019, so much so that it completely ruins the atmosphere of the show.

It helps aid in Fruits Basket feeling overtly serious, that and line delivery and general direction of the show. And the main reason this is an issue is that extremely serious moments of trauma we are shown, moments that we should be feeling bad for characters, have left me holding back LAUGHTER from how ridiculous it feels. There is not "Oh fuck this is super serious" moment in 2019 because EVERYTHING feels so serious.

2001 Does an amazing job of subtly drifting from the comedic slife of life energy, to more serious topics like Hatori's trauma, Momiji's family relationship, Kisa being bullied, and the AMAZING finale that I wont even spoil. The end of Fruits Basket 2001 left me aching for more and stunned at how I had ended up there, yet does it so seemlessly. Tohru is the light that carries the show, that carries the characters through their deep trauma, staying positive despite her situation no matter how incredibly depressing. And 2001 does this through its music.

If you like 2019, by god I hope you do. I really do. I wish I liked 2019 I wanted to SO BAD. I waited YEAAAAARRSS for a season 2 or revival, and when it came I was so excited!! But as I watched, I could not get over how much the general vibe and ambience bothered me, it hindered my watching experience and I actually DROPPED IT when it first came out, only picking it back up when the show FINISHED. I hope despite all this, despite all my grievances people that love 2019 love it for their reasons and dont care what I say.

But by god, something being more accurate to the original does not automatically make it better, or the first rendition that was not completely true to the original bad. And I will never get over how people can actually think that.

[seekerseekingsomething]

Closure

So some years back I started reading a little comic made during the height of Undertale mania. tailing off on a (to me) wild headcanon. It was a sad and heavy story in many ways, looked like it was going to get heavier and sadder. That's the kind of thing I often gravitate to. That said, a lot happened really fast in my life and I kind of forgot about it. in that ADHD "oh right I should check in on that, Never does" sort of way.

Well I got to thinking about undertale again, amusingly because of another fandom entirely where someone is writing a story that touched on themes adjacent.

So, having started using Tumblr again I went back to find the comic was finished.

Isn't that a thing?

How often does something get really, conclusively, Finished in this day and age? I can seldom remember it happening in any of the kind of things I watch, people get bored, or go silent, or wander off, but Finish?

So I read it, picked up right near where I left off and read it all. It got heavy and dark, but the light slipped back in, and then got brighter and brighter to end in a dreary, cold, rainy, grey. On a note of finality. Not happy, or sad, but ambiguous.

It was perfect. no notes.

remembering Undertale hurt so much in ways I thought I'd remembered wrong, it was a formative game for me in a few powerful ways. focused always on agency, and choice, or the lack thereof.

a shockingly heavy condemnation of mining something for every last secret, picking everything apart to squeeze the last drops out of it.

I never saw the genocide ending, I knew it existed, but I didn't want to do that. couldn't even. I'm sure if I kept at it I could have beaten it all. But...

There's a philosophical question here, an important one. It might seem a little trite, and maybe it is, but all the same. What is the difference between a character in a game and a "real" person?

"It's just ones and zeroes bro, you're overthinking it!"

Am I? how easy is it to do terrible things when you choose to see people not as whole but as a simple caricature? ones and zeroes. NPCs.

I finished Undertale twice, exactly. I got to the end and was furious there was a whole one person I couldn't save (a game where nobody has to die? sold). so I heard you can. And I did. and when I did, when I stepped into that sunshine and watched these people who live on my screen get what they wanted, dreamed of. I knew that was it.

Even now, filled with nostalgia and a little lingering pain I can't imagine hitting that "New Game" button, because then I'd have stolen it all away. If you're willing to believe that it was real then I'd have stolen nearly a decade from them, and trapped them back under that mountain. Because I couldn't let go.

Are they happy? Did terrible things happen? It's out of my hands, beyond me. It's not my story anymore.

Finality is a beautiful thing.

[lollitree]

Your tags under the pokemon poll are SO TRUEE and it hurts how many people dont understand that

I grew up in the change from pixel art to 3D and have nostalgia for bw, xy AND sm. So i think because of that, I can see the good and bad in all the games but don't feel like any of them 'peaked''. They're all different games, so they are really hard to compare.

On a related note tho, its so sad to see so many fans praise one of my childhood games and not the others. And like, I get it because gen 5 is more similar to what they grew up with.....but every time I say I love xy, sm and even swsh i get told they are terrible and usually imply that I shouldnt like them :/

That only happens online, though......irl all the fans ive met, no matter their ages, just say something like 'i didnt like it, but i'm glad you did!'. Growing up in irl fan spaces and having to move online during corona was AN EXPERIENCE omg

Yeah! It's super interesting how much we are affected by nostaglia.

There's usually a pattern you can notice with this stuff too. There are two lines that go up as time goes on. The one everyone talks about as being great and the newer one people hate on, usually to do with nostalgia of the now older original audience of the game.

My full reply got long so putting it under a read more skfjsh

My first Pokemon game was Colosseum, so gen 2/3 pokemon and gen 3 sound effects are pretty nostalgic to me.

Then I grew up mostly playing Diamond/Platinum/PMD2/Ranger2. I LOVED Team Galactic. I restarted the games so many times just so I could play through the story again with Cyrus and the Galactic Grunt theme. (I have also played through pmd2 many many times). I remember in my early teens seeing people on the internet hating on DPPt a lot and it making me sad. I recall someone saying that the gen 4 Pokemon sucked and I remember thinking "aw I guess they're right, some of these pokemon are really boring or annoying" and then I learned later that the pokemon I was thinking of were all gen 1 pokemon sdfkjsh

Gen 5 was hated when it first came out because it wasn't very fun for new players. I bet it also didn't help that the advertising for B2W2 was pretty poor and also came out after the 3DS did. I didn't even know it was a sequel until years later. That's why they went in the complete opposite direction for gen 6, and added gimmicks!

I have heard multiple people call the designs from gen 5 horrible over the years (And they're all wrong). Those comments are nowhere NEAR as frequent now, but they almost always come from people with nostalgia for the ones they grew up with.

I was 13 when BW first came out. I think I've only beaten it once, MAYBE twice. I'm not entirely sure why, because I was still replaying DPPt a lot. I would guess it's because the game is super linear in terms of gameplay and every playthrough will start exactly the same. You don't really get to make decisions on your team and how you play until later. Kid me loved the beginning of the main pokemon games the most because they were the most fun bits to play usually. So I suppose when you've already played it once, the beginning becomes quite boring.

And to compare. I did not like XY when it first came out. I was 16 and very against change and also my fav types at the time were dark and dragon so fairy type was the worst thing ever. I said previously that I really liked Team Galactic, so Team Flare was just a bootleg version of them to me. BUT I did immediately replay the game when I finished it. The character customisation plus the huge dex gives the game a lot of replayability. Because while I didn't like a lot about the game it was still fun to play, and it was the first time online was really accessible to me. I went back to 2013/2014 on my blog and there's SO much positivity about the game it's amazing! Over time people only remembered the bad parts and started hating it. I bet there'll be an influx of nostalgia for it before long. We can even see it in the hope people have for SV having Kalos DLC.

I need to replay sun/moon or play USUM because in my brain currently it sucks. But I'm very aware that that's because I only played it once, it's been years, and I played it when I started to grow out of Pokemon. So I'm excited to play it again now that I can appreciate it better. (Also the Sun/Moon anime is my fav so I have a lot of love for the characters now)

And finally, I loved SWSH! I didn't finish it the first time I tried to play it. Mostly because I spent HOURS trying to get a shiny hatenna before doing the fire gym skdfjhs. But then I SPED through the game with a bug type only run before Legends came out and I really enjoyed the story! One of those things that's more enjoyable if you're only focused on enjoying the story (and playing the game through with a joltik as the lead and trying to make sure they stay strong enough to beat the game with pfft) Also Leon was the first ever Champion I actually thought was cool and enjoyed seeing while playing the game (as ridiculous as his outfit is)

If I were to logically plot out the best for me based on how nostalgia works and taking into consideration that public opinion ABSOLUTELY influences me. I would have said BW was the best and XY(or SM) was the downfall, even though I had way more fun playing XY than BW as a kid

[fabien-euskadi]

1, 9, 19

1. what song makes you feel better?

There is not just one song, but hundreds of them. Let me give you a few examples:

"In Trenodia" - VV. This is the song I am listening to in this very moment. It helps me coping with solitude, despite being an extremely melancholic song.

"Longing ~跡切れたmelody" - X Japan. This one is painfully sad, for painfully sad moments. Usually, it's a song for break-ups (and my life is but a long succession of break-ups and a heart being broken countless times).

"You Can't Bring Me Down" - Suicidal Tendencies. The tittle is self-explanatory. I guess I would love to see them live again.

"In My Defence" - Freddie Mercury. A reminder that there are no guidelines for life, and it's perfectly normal to make mistakes (tons of them). This song is an absolute gem.

"Heaven Sends You" - The Mission. There is already hope in my heart when I am listening to this one. Probably, the most sensual lyrics ever written.

"Beautiful" - HIM. There is also hope when I listen to this one. Sadly, lately, people feel ugly to me, way, way too ugly.

“Are you the one that I've been waiting for?” - Nick Cave. Unfortunately, I no longer feel this optimistic. I’ve waited in vain.

"Poison" - Alice Cooper. This one was my soundtrack at the beginning of one of the biggest turnarounds in my life. I remember singing it out loud in my car as I crossed the April 25th Bridge, in Lisbon. The events in question had nothing to do with the lyrics themselves.

"Always be mine" - Aldo Nova. For some reason, this one makes me feel quite nostalgic, even if I can't really feel nostalgia for 1983 (for obvious reasons). This song is perfect for driving - driving towards a new beginning. Don't ask me why, even I can't answer this one.

"Book of Shallows" - Avantasia. A good song to deal with the frustration, for frustration is rarely self-inflicted. This song is a good reminder that shallow people are the norm. Those who are the exceptions shall not kneel before the common creatures.

"The Wake of the angel" - Elend. One of the most inspiration songs ever. And also one of the saddest (it is desperately sad). If this song cannot break a writer’s block, no other song can do it.

"A Life's Work" (Pts 1, 2, 3 and 4) - Magic Pie. Technically, this is not one song, but four. Actually, I could mention the entire album "The Suffering Joy", my inspirational soundtrack for academic papers and technical translations.

"Hoy toca ser feliz" - Mägo de Oz. Probably, the most spirits-lifting song ever written. Normally, I don't like songs sang in Spanish, but Mago is Mago, and these lyrics are amazing.

9. what calms you down?

Self-control. That was something I learned with my yoga and meditation classes. So, I guess I am the very thing that calms me down. Sometimes, it's hard, I admit.

19. Most important thing in your life?

This may sound quite sad, but nothing matters, nothing is important. The importance of things and people is a self-fabricated illusion. Maybe, the wisdom and discernment to realize this is the only important thing in life.

(thank you so much - it's good to see you here)

[arkus-rhapsode]

So... I kinda miss FE7's 10 chapter long tutorial was structured

So like many people I've had a chance to replay FE7 on Nintendo's NSO program. FE7 is still a great game, even with nostalgia goggles off. But something that is of course legend at this point in the FE fandom is the 10 chapter long tutorial.

This serves as Lyn's story and essentially a prologue to the rest of the game that stretches teaching you a lot of mechanics for 10 chapters. Now I experienced this once before so I was ready to grit my teeth and bare it. And the crazy thing is as I was playing it, I realized just how much this 10 chapter prologue made me care about the characters in a way the recent FE hadn't.

Now look, I like modern FE. This isn't me saying everything was better back in my day. But something about them that just isn't like the GBA era is that they introduce characters to you as clusters that you control off the bat. This is something that really started around with Fates, you'd be given a lord and then their two retainers. Maybe you'd have to assist them after some space was put between you on the map, but for the most part, you were handed a bunch of units that would train you to use multiple mechanics on a single map. FE3H was probably more extreme with this handing you an entire class of kids before you really even get a chance to know even the lord character.

But then when I played through FE Engage, the Yunaka chapter had genuinely shocked me. Engage up to that point had basically done the same thing Fates had done. Hand you a bunch of characters with different classes and test you with the map. But with Yunaka, the chapter was actually narratively structured in a way where she was the primary focus and showed who she was, then you got to the map which utilized her abilities. And by the end of it, I had felt like I really got a taste of her in a way I really hadn't with characters like Chloe, Louis, Celine etc.

From a meta standpoint, FE is a game with permadeath, so only the lord characters really have plot shields and arcs that are overarching that builds throughout the game. But since this is a strategy RPG with a bunch of characters, a lot of those characters really only have their introduction to make an impression on the player. Even now with the support system to flesh them out, an average non lord character will really only one chapter for recruitment. Now the obvious reason modern FE is giving you three new units a chapter is to teach you multiple mechanics. To avoid another 10 chapter long tutorial. But the thing is though, if three characters are all being introduced at the same time, namely the cutscene before and after a map, there's only so much characterization you can spread between them. I talked about Yunaka earlier, but her whole chapter genuinely felt like an exclusive highlight of her. Then I think about one of my other favorite characters from Engage, Lapis, and her intro is really nothing. Most of her intro chapter is about Alcryst and as far as I knew she was just his serious retainer. But then I actually grinned out her supports and found her to be one of the best characters in the game. And the sad thing is I almost didn't do it because I felt like I didn't really find her endearing in her intro.

This is basically the same problem I had with Fates and to a lesser extent 3H. But, to be fair, 3H was structured in a way that the emphasis was on socializing so even though I got a bunch of characters I knew nothing about, the game encouraged me to learn more through social activities with them.

But then I look at FE7, while yes the pacing of introducing mechanics is more stretched out, the chapters of FE7 genuinely feel like they endear me to the cast to point I want to know more about them. The levels are structured in such a way that the narrative portion pre battle its usually only focused on one character, but then there is also a recruitable character on the map who is in the middle of their own story. They feel like a natural inclusion while not detracting from the new character just introduced this chapter's time to shine. And like all FEs, a lot of these characters aren't really plot relevant going forward. I never have to use Dorcas ever again if I don't want to and it really changes nothing in the narrative. But when I play chapter four, I feel for Natalie and Dorcas's stories. I want to see more of them.

Now look, Im not saying I want to go back to the 10 chapter long padding of introducing mechanics, but I feel like with how FE is going with trying to hand you a bunch of units and then wanting you to learn more about them through their supports and not narrative chapters like the lord characters, I would like for those introduction chapters to maybe get more focused.

Instead of a lord and their retainers, maybe have a different dynamic? I think modern FE has had a bit too many characters recently who are just a lord and those they trust most. We can have an intro like Celine, Chloe, and Louis, but maybe structure the map more to be like an interactive episode than just a barrier between my party and getting the three new units. And if the recruitable units feel too much like a hassle, I feel like PoR and Awakening were probably the best middle ground. Slowly dripping in multiple characters a chapter while building that chapter to characterize them like the Maribelle and Ricken chapter.

Just one of those things where I understand was changed to make for gameplay convenience and even developer convenience. But with FE, I always want that balance of character and gameplay so these are more than just functions. I'd have been happy if I spent longer in like Firene if it was just to get me to know the characters more. Or play levels with a bit more of a difficulty curve if they were structured to play out in a less straightforward and more narrative way.

[fireemblems24]

Fire Emblem Engage 15 - 17

Spoilers for FE Engage 15+. Though, this game is way better at gameplay than it is with story, but the characters are all likable so I'm good.

I really appreciate how different all the nations and their castles and interiors look in this game. I adore Three Houses, but one thing I really wish they did was have more variety in the weather, landscapes, etc . . . This game nailed it.

Solm, a desert country, having waterfalls in their palace is such a good touch. Not only does it show that water would be valued in a place like this, but it's also flaunting the royal family's wealth and power, like a palace should.

I'm not sure I'll ever warm up to Veyle. She's a walking moe cliche. Mind control. Innocent cute loli type otherwise. But, hey, I didn't like Hortensia at one point but her VA sold me in the last chapter.

Does anyone else find it a bit funny that we're a dragon worshipped as a god with influence over the land and this is a good thing. It's like a giant middle finger to those people who tried to rewrite the entire history of the franchise around a certain character's not-so-great view of dragons.

Also worth noting that Brodia invading Elusia is seen as a universal bad and something Diamant's supports resolve around stopping. Just putting that out there.

Ivy/Diamant feels cannon to me. It makes too much sense.

Kagetsu is so awkward. I love him.

I feel like I just took half of my units and got them with level 5 with Byleth. Mentorship is too good not to stick on a few people, and it's cheap too.

I love how literally no one takes Hortensia seriously. It makes an otherwise grating character kind of cute.

Holy shit, Merrin laid it on thick for Chloe. Honestly, don't blame her. But she is not subtle, gave Chloe flowers, called her beautiful, then asked her to dinner. Homegirl's even willing to try and stomach Chloe's . . . uh "food" choices. And Chloe thinks Merrin is like a cool knight out of a fairy tale. 100% new ship happening.

So far I like AlearxAlfred, IvyxDiamant, CelinexAlcryst, and now ChloexMerrin.

Alfred and Boucheron's support went exactly like I imagined it would. Poor dude. Alfred would lose his mind meeting Dimitri, someone who's abnormally strong despite not looking like a hulk, but is still shredded.

Alfred is probably the only person in the world who would've be offended or weirded out when someone asked to lick the flowers he's wearing and also offer to get licked later. Otherwise, Bunet is weird.

Seadall is VERY hot. He's like Sothe and Navarre had a baby. Or like Navarre put Sothe's clothes on.

F!Alear confronting Veyle again had really good voice acting. As long as we ignore that everyone just stood around instead of attacking her. Gratned, it was un-brainwashed Veyle who wasn't attacking so I'll let it go. Maybe.

Doing Ike's prologue is making me feel things. The nostalgia is real.

I love so, so much that one of Byleth's canned dialogue in Somniel is "Nothing to report!" and his paralogue is the Holy Tomb. And most of his dialogue was about Rhea, lol.

Eirika, my beloved, she's finally coming to me 😭😭😭😭😭😭 thank you, Rosado and Goldmary.

Rosado and Goldmary are both amazing. I want to use both, but I can't. There's just no room for both. But I think I'll use Goldmary because she's a bit better out of the box. She takes self-absorbed to hysterical new levels lol.

Anyone else think it's dumb that in Classic your units can die in the ring paralogues? It's like, oh bummer, Lyn/Corrin/etc just killed my healer who's the little sister of my mage, but our bonds are now stronger!

It feels extra sad seeing Firene get attacked. It's such a peaceful kingdom. It's nice to see Alfred back in the spotlight though. His lines about how these are just farmers and not soldiers reminds me a lot of Dimitri after Lonato.

I love how often the villains chit-chat with the heroes before and after battles, but like they never attack or threaten each other.

So mean that they're making Ivy and Hortensia fight their own dad :(

So I didn't start ch 17 after seeing the dialogue because it was too late and I didn't realize it, but I'm seeing the world map now and it's on fire :(

FYI, put Corrin on Alear. She/he can use all of the Dragon Vein terrain bonuses. I know most classes are locked to one type or another. I don't know if there's any other exceptions like Alear, but man I'm loving using this ring on Alear.

Alfred just did 5 criticals in a row. You think enemies would wise up and quit attacking him, but no. He is pissed off right now.

Alfred deserved that MVP. Boy put in the work.

Haha, they lost a ring. Wonder who I got back? And Veyle threw us another one? Nice! She got some points back despite being a character archtype I'm not about.

SIGURD! Fuck yes. Everyone's getting Canto. And Lief. Less exciting, but I'll take it. Jugdral boys are back.

[firstagent]

Digimon Ghost Game #51 Review

We can’t rip this episode for being an obvious promotion for a toy. The whole franchise, at its heart, is one obvious toy promotion. What you can, rip, however, are the circumstances in which these upgraded toys are introduced to the world. Usually it comes in the form of significant character development or a new character entirely. These babies are presents from Hiro’s dad… just because. Hokuto doesn’t have any advice or even a comment on the current situation (which is actually quite serious if all these incidents are compiled). He just thinks they’re neat.

It would be one thing if we could just suffer through the repetitive malaise in peace, hoping for bits of joy and fun and violence towards children. But every so often Hokuto shows up. And we have to be reminded that this repetitive malaise exists solely because he is oblivious to all of the signals and carrying on like nothing is wrong. If Hiro’s letters reflect reality and Hokuto read them and took stock, maybe we could turn a corner and at least have a glimpse of direction for this show. Keeping calm and carrying on underscores just how pointless this season has been. And the upgrade isn’t even that impressive, granting the kids a power most seasons’ digivices had from the beginning.

The whole thing exposes the blatant promotion in a way that other seasons successfully bury by doing something interesting. Whether it’s Xros Wars using nostalgia or Appmon using comedy, there’s something else there. This is another standard fare story, and incredibly subdued as far as plots centered around beheadings go. DarkKnightmon, even after his ruthlessness was commented on, came off rather unassuming. Who wouldn’t go to those lengths to get their head back and who wouldn’t be a bit peeved to find out what it went through? Him of all Digimon being another in a line of enemies quitting after one bad hit is especially sad.

Initial Grade: D+

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[alyjojo]

Love Reading 🫀- August 2023 - Leo

Singles:

Overall energy: The Hierophant

How you will meet: The Hermit

How they will treat you: Page of Pentacles rev

Long-term Potential: 4 Swords

Oracle: Keep Your Word

Either this is your ex…possibly an ex spouse with The Hierophant, or you’re dealing with the chaotic ending of a very serious relationship when this person comes in. You’re tender, wounded, vulnerable, you’ve been through the wringer and really aren’t even looking for a relationship at all, yet here they come. Or this is your ex and you’re trying to get them back, could be either.

This person is very closed off and Hermit-like, Virgo energy is strong whether it applies or not, or you are. Whoever is attempting to make a connection is failing, because there’s a lack of communication, no apologies for mean or petty behavior, you two are on entirely different pages from the get go. It’s possible this person has just left, and you’re hoping they wake up and realize how much you care…I don’t see that happening 😕 Long term, you’re still healing from this person shocking the hell out of you, ending the connection, but it’s possible someone else is coming in too, that you won’t expect (but is a much better fit for you). Could be a Libra. Or the ex could be starting over with someone else, and that’s switched. Or this person is just going to continue shutting down communication, there is no going back with this one in any version of this I can see.

Messages -

Their side:

- Similar Values

- Stalker 👀

Your side:

- I wish I knew then what I know now.

- EX Drama

Signs you may be dealing with:

Virgo, Taurus & Libra

Couples:

Overall energy: 4 Pentacles

Current: Page of Swords rev

Challenge: 6 Pentacles

How they feel about you: 4 Swords

How you feel about them: The Lovers

Outcome: 6 Cups

Very complicated relationship the two of you have. You both hurt each other. You both have shut down communication, it’s a standoff between two stubborn bitches…no offense. You both also miss each other a lot. I’m getting you’ve really hurt this person, and other people may get played a role in this, idk if there’s any potential for healing this in the future because of that. You’re being seen as a cheater, and you may have, but you blame them? If not cheating…flirting, talking to other people, liking an Insta model, something like that.

4 Pentacles shows you both being extremely closed off, because of ego games and both sides feel right, no one admits their faults, everyone defends their own views on things so…there is no moving forward, no vulnerability, apologies, compromise, or humility. As far as you’re both concerned, it’s over. The challenge is both of you feeling extremely upset over both of you being with new people, entertaining that idea, starting over. However you feel, they feel too. They could be making you feel like they’re moving on *because* you did something with someone else…and it’s payback. Or they actually are. Scorpio vibes are heavy in this reading, but doesn’t have to be.

How they feel about you is a lot of deep love & emotion, a lot of feelings they bury and refuse to talk about, they could’ve literally blocked you or just aren’t speaking to you at all. You’re caught up in juggling Lovers, not sure who is right for you or what you really want, which shows you probably leaning more towards another person than them. Or you’re just terrified they’re with someone else, because they’re not talking to you. Outcome by mid September is sadness, heartbreak, nostalgia over the times when you worked well together and were on the same side, had each other’s backs. You or them, maybe both. Your Oracle says to take things very slow, and I don’t think you’ll have much of a choice if they aren’t speaking to you.

Messages -

Their side:

- How could I forgive you?

- If I could I would.

Your side:

- I still think of you.

- You hurt me first.

Oracles - Take a hint from a sloth 🦥

Their side: Look at today as the beginning of a new and positive you, and let go of the past.

Your side: Life is never boring; it is a gift that contains many treasures.

Signs you may be dealing with:

Scorpio, Leo, Capricorn, Gemini & Libra